Research Training Fellowship*: Dr Roshni Mansfield

Many babies undergo surgery each year – and because they can’t say how they’re feeling, it can be challenging for doctors to recognise and treat their pain afterwards. Pain in early life not only causes immediate discomfort but may also have long-term effects on brain development, and is a cause of great concern for parents. Dr Roshni Mansfield at the University of Oxford is aiming to develop tools to improve how pain can be monitored in babies after operations. She hopes this will ultimately lead to more effective pain management in babies after surgery – supporting their recovery, care and wellbeing.

How are children’s lives affected now?

Monitoring pain in babies after surgery is crucial for guiding effective pain management, but this can be challenging.

“Since babies can’t speak, it can be hard for nurses and doctors to always know when they’re in pain – and how severe that pain is,” says Dr Mansfield. “Experiencing pain is distressing for both children and their families – and may also have negative long-term consequences on babies’ brain development.”

Currently, doctors and nurses use pain scores to monitor pain in babies after surgery. Pain scores include observing behaviours, such as facial expressions, crying and activity levels, and vital signs like heart rate. However, these assessments are done intermittently, and when different health professionals use these scores, they do not always get the same results. Therefore, there is a risk of missing and not treating pain when it happens.

How could this research help?

“We’re aiming to develop a way to continuously generate pain scores in babies following surgery,” says Dr Mansfield.

Using state-of-the-art artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning techniques, the researchers plan to create a tool that automatically generates pain scores from video, audio and vital signs data collected from babies following a hernia* operation.

“We’ll also explore whether measuring electrical activity in a baby’s brain before and after surgery can help predict and monitor the severity of their pain after the operation,” says Dr Mansfield. “Ultimately, this could lead to a new tool to enable more personalised pain management.”

The team will also interview a group of parents to understand their views on their child’s pain and its assessment, which will offer valuable insights to guide future improvements in pain monitoring technologies.

*A hernia is a condition where there is a weak spot in a muscle of the body wall, and an internal part of the abdomen (such as intestines or fat) pushes through, causing a bulge. 

Research Training Fellowships:

Each year, Action Medical Research awards these prestigious grants to help the brightest and best doctors and researchers develop their career in medical research.

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